Sarah Palin's "bridge to nowhere" claim comes under a microscope

Who could have foreseen that Alaska's infamous "bridge to nowhere" would become the presidential campaign's debating point du jour?

The surprise spotlight on the project speaks volumes about how the race has been transformed.

As many commentators have noted, Barack Obama and his aides have been less than sure-footed in calculating how -- and to what degree -- they should directly engage Sarah Palin. Initially, Obama and his staff sought to keep their focus on the top of the Republican ticket (that would be John McCain for those who may have forgotten)

But as Palin-mania has sustained itself, that strategy has appeared to ignore reality.

And today, perhaps in a sign of an altered response, the Obama camp and its allies came out firing on one front, hotly disputing the credit Palin takes for turning down federal funding for that proposed bridge in the Land of the Midnight Sun.

Since McCain tapped her as his running mate on Aug. 29 (hard to believe that was less than two weeks ago) Palin at every opportunity -- using virtually the same phrasing -- has told crowds that as governor of Alaska, "I told Congress, 'Thank but no thanks for that bridge to nowhere.' "

She re-ran the line again today at a rally in Lebanon, Ohio. But she did so in the face of a release from the Obama forces noting that a plethora of reporting shows her stance on the project -- which would have connected the small city of Ketchikan to the even smaller island of Gravina -- isn't so black-and-white.

The first story cited in the Obama release, tellingly, ran in the Wall Street Journal today. It's headline: "Record Contradicts Palin's 'Bridge' Claim."

The release also points out that the independent PolitiFact.com came to the same conclusion recently. (The group has an update on the bridge dispute.)

Joining the Obama effort to deconstruct Palin's position on the project is a posting on the ThinkProgress.org web site -- a sign that liberal advocacy groups are fully engaged on the issue.

[UPDATE: Conservative groups are having their say, as well. The anti-tax Club for Growth put out a release today scorning Obama for "hypocrisy" on the bridge issue. It notes that in 2005, he voted against a Senate amendment to thwart funding for the project.

We checked with the office of the amendment's sponsor, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, and learned that he proposed re-routing the money to help repair a bridge damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Obama was one of 82 senators to vote against the amendment (obscurely described in congressional records); only 15 supported it. Missing the vote: McCain.

-- Don Frederick

Photo credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Peter]

This is a bridge to a non-story. If it were a story I would be all over it. But there are so many other scandals that we could be talking about when it comes to Sarah Palin. A possible Affair, Trooper Gate http://www.hotpres.com

[jack]

There's nothing wrong with changing your stance when you see you're wrong....that's growth and maturity in admitting that you're wrong, such as McCain with Immigration. IF Obama had that capacity, Hilary would be on his ticket, but he listened to bitter Michelle.

It was reported last night that BOTH Obama and Biden voted FOR the bridge, even when another Senator gave them the option to redirect funds to a bridge affected by Hurricane Katrina, they declined. Do they really want to go down this road????

[Not Your sweetie]

When will the media report that Obama & Biden voted for the money at the expense of Katrina survivors?
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/2008/09/07/bridge-to-nowhere-who-voted-for-what/

[Scy]

She may lie like a rug, she may set back women's rights 100 eyars, she may not know squat, she may not be able to stand up to terrorists because she can't even stand up to reporters . . . but by God she shoots moose, has kids and is purty so we gonna vote for her!!!! You people deserve the ruination of America that the Republicans have brought upon us. Could we just get it over with so we can start over?

[Boris86]

The left is grasping at straws as they see their empty suit candidate sink to the bottom of the polls. They'll do and say anything just to get elected.

[rjinchi]

the media made her a celbrity and the media will take it away - she will go on to become a talk show host.....

[Guest]

Obama’s Public Image Speaks Volumes
==============================================

Images are important; they express ideas and project intent. Even the choice of ‘style’ reveals hidden truths and revelations. In Modern politics, Lenin, Hitler and Mao all recognized, and thus governed and controlled their populations through subtle image messaging.

Therefore, during this important Presidential Election season, it is important to understand that the public image of Barack Obama in a national campaign poster proclaiming both ‘Hope’ and ‘Progress’, in fact, visually promises neither hope or progress. This image doesn’t even invoke freedom or democracy.

Rather, the motif for this poster is derived from propaganda posters used during the former Soviet Union. Indeed, Shepard Fairey, 38, recently told The Los Angeles Times his Obama portrait “was inspired by Soviet propaganda posters." Indeed, Mr. Fairey’s fascination and reliance upon Communist imagery and practices are so well known that Time called upon the designer to do a portrait of Vladimir Putin.

So, rather than portraying and representing a
future, revolutionary American leader, Obama’s 2008 Presidential poster actually conveys, to the learned viewer, an arbitrary red, white and blue façade placed over an old Communist authority. In other words, underlying this familiar face one can also recognize the template of political ruthlessness, suppressed freedoms, and an uncompromising authoritarian. None of these qualities would get a single vote this September except from Anarchists...

Read Full Article: www.lgwilliams.com/art/Obama_Public_Image_Speaks_Volumes.pdf

[USAalltheway]

Hmmm...... so it is OK for Palin to change her stance, and it is OK for McCain to change his stance. In their case it is called growth and maturity.

But when Obama does it, or when Kerry did it.... it was called FLIP-FLOPPING and it is a BAD thing.

I have been a supporting GOP member for 30 years, but I cannot any longer take their pathetic attempts to steal elections while never addressing the issues. It is very sad to see the oldest party suddenly looking weak and desperate. Using common tricks to try and twist things is no way to win an election.

I used to be proud to call myself a Republican. My only hope is that McCain remembers who he really if he gets into office. But this Palin pick makes me sick, this woman is a train wreck waiting to happen.

[Reid]

@ Jack.

Obama has already proven that he is flexible about certain positions. I am sure that you were tuned into his O' Reilly interview when he suggested that the surge had been successful.

As for the suggestion that Michelle kept Hillary off of the ticket, your slander is absolutely ridiculous. How can you suggest that a complex, strategic choice can be reduced to petty jealously? With all of her baggage and poor campaigning techniques, Hillary would have been a lousy running mate.

Furthermore, what evidence do you have that Obama voted against supporting citizens affected by Katrina? Your comment reads like a typical Republican hack job.

[DVS]

All the pieces will fall into place right after the first debates. In the debates, McCain and Palin will not be reading a teleprompter with a nicely scripted, heavily rehearsed speech in front of an adoring convention crowd. They will not be able to take shots at their respective opponents without the fear of reprisal or retort. They will be required to deal with matters that actually matter to this country and it's people. They will both, most likely, be called upon to explain actions and events. After the election, Palin can go back to shooting moose and caribou and McCain can wander off into the sunset...or wherever it is he wanders off to afterward.

[TruAmerican]

Shut up, Obama! She did not take the earmark for the bridge project! That is it. Her claim is true. She did sell the jet, she did not use the jet! That is it! Her claim is true! Obama, stop distorting other's record while you do not have one of your own!

[Tom]

How convenient ---LEBANON, Ohio (AP) — "John McCain took a risk in picking little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate, but now the campaign's playing it safer. She's sticking to a greatest hits version of her convention speech on the campaign trail and steering clear of questions until she's comfortable enough for a hand-picked interviewer later this week."

[Maria]

Jack:

She didn't change her stance when she saw she was wrong. She changed her stance when it became politically unpopular to continue to support it. Of course, Ted Stevens hid the money in an appropriations bill and so the bottom line is Alaska got it anyway. Ms. Independence thereby got $230 taxpayer dollars to spend on infrastructure for her state of 670,000 without needing to raise it herself. Funny how cons don't like welfare unless it's going to states that vote Republican.

[Tom]

Boris...we all do it!! it's the nature of politics. It's not like we all drank the same cool-aid

The left is grasping at straws as they see their empty suit candidate sink to the bottom of the polls. They'll do and say anything just to get elected.

Posted by: Boris86 | September 09, 2008 at 01:27 PM

[Melissa Burke]

Seriously people – there are far more qualified women out there than Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin’s main skills include being able to field dress a moose and bark loud enough to distract Americans from tangible issues around which we should be electing our nation’s leaders – like the fact that the credit bubble created under the Republican administration is imploding, while we spent 3+ TRILLION dollars in Iraq. I’m tired of my hard earned tax dollars being used to line the pockets of wealthy oil executives and John McCain’s other cronies who own more houses than they can count. Why don’t we spend some of that money domestically on things that directly benefit America?? John McCain cheated on his first wife (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html), so why wouldn’t he cheat the American people? I’m not interested in a President who would be fun to have beers with or in the Vice President’s fashion sense (which are the issues the media seems to focus on) – I want a true global President who can lead and inspire this country out of our morass and towards its true potential. To me the choice is clearer than ever: Obama-Biden 2008!

[BristolPalinsFetus]

Please Granny Palin, PLEASE!

I don't care about the bridge, just kill that thing atop your head that makes you look all Jiffy Pop. I can't take it anymore!!!

[Kathy]

Just one question. When is the mainstream media going to put Obama under the microscope?

[JD]

@TruAmerican

Can you please provide evidence that she did not take money for the bridge to nowhere? From all that I have read and heard from people who live in Alaska, she did originally take the money, and once she rejected the project, she did not return the money she had already taken. I would greatly appreciate a link to a credible source that says differently.

[Bud]

At least Sarah Palin has a past to explore. If only we could get the coverage of Obama past but he's never done anything. I don't care if she was for the bridge and then against it at least it shows she stands with her constituents.

You bloggers will eventually come up with something so be patient. Maybe she dies her hair - Oh NO!! Or maybe she had a fight with a jealous woman - Oh NO!!

Maybe she's just a normal person who doesn't hide her past - Oh Yes!! Maybe she's not a mouth piece for all the old Liberal cronies in Washington.

[Onlooker]

McCain -Palin ticket is a joke. No substance to this duo. It reminds me of the intro to the Shrek DVD. Me, me, oh pick me!!!
They are just trying to take advantage of the fact that Obama made a mistake by not picking Hillary as his running mate. We need someone with a plan besides going to War or a Beauty pagent to run this country.
I dub them "Candidates to no where"

[DVS]

All the pieces will fall into place right after the first debates. In the debates, McCain and Palin will not be reading a teleprompter with a nicely scripted, heavily rehearsed speech in front of an adoring convention crowd. They will not be able to take shots at their respective opponents without the fear of reprisal or retort. They will be required to deal with matters that actually matter to this country and it's people. They will both, most likely, be called upon to explain actions and events. After the election, Palin can go back to shooting moose and caribou and McCain can wander off into the sunset...or wherever it is he wanders off to afterward.

[carlos]

Only a opinion and out of the subject, I don't know why the Democrats haven't got guts to tell the true while the Republicans have got gut to tell lies, the famous "Search" ; come on guys , it is time to go and boast about the true, "George Bush and J. McCain, are paying the Sunni insurgents hundreds of millions of dollars per month not to shoot Americans soldiers" ,this is the reality of the famous " Search" ; you will see later when the American government stop paying the insurgents when the leave.

[Sacto]

Palin and her falsies! One false statement after another regarding her accomplishments.

[Wayne]

Where is the bridge????
Oh, Maybe, Obama will tell the truth and show us where it is.

[Jon K.]

This woman is a vacuous, hypocritical, power-hungry, narcissistic lunatic. The media has a fundamental obligation to the public to expose her for who she truly is. Kids gloves is not what we need with this woman. We need the truth revealed. She is a liar who is married to a sessionist and her radical ideals would destroy this nation if the elderly and prone to cancer McCain should die in office.

[Adolf the Obama]

Obama broke the law when he bought that house in Chicago together with criminal Rezko.Do you need criminal president

[Tyrone]

Microscope for what?
Even the Alaskan Democrat Party gave credit to Palin for killing the bridge to nowhere. Check with them. This was about Palin originally thinking the bridge was a good idea. The huge price tag is what made her change her mind. Thats just an example of her being fiscally responsible. In other words, try another form of attack against her. Here's something the media can use to attack Palin on. There are reports that Sarah Palin once served her kids Nestlequik instead of Ovaltine Hot.. There are also reports that Sarah cheated playing monopoly and UNO. Also, there is reports that Sarah Palin jay walked across a street Juno Alaska. Since the attacks on Palin up until this point have been beyond lame and pathetic, maybe these leads will make up for them.

[N Philips]

So, if Palin didn't stop the Bridge to Nowhere, who did? Or is it under construction now?

[ob08]

All you ignorant Rethugs - if you make less than $250,000 a year, President Obama will give you a tax break, same with small businesses. It seems to me that all these country pumpkin places where the people are complaining about no jobs and more taxes and are voting for McSame have no clue. Obviously they want to continue being broke, dumb and ignorant.

[luvwknd]

McShame is making a mockery out of this election, plain and simple!
Palin's a friggen joke, the GOP says a senator with 4 years under his belt is not experienced to lead this country, how about a govenor with 2 years under her belt? GOP calls that experience? especially since McShame could easily drop dead at any second!
Next, what about trooper-gate, a govenor who utilizes her executve power for personal vindication really shows the country how she would lead now doesn't it?
Third, Palin barks and barks about abstinence in schools & won't allow for condoms to be distributed and her own 17 year old is knocked up? THAT IS PLAIN HYPOCRACY, which IS a Repuklican motto!

This simply shows how poor of judgement McShame really has! He is NOT qualified to be President which is displayed by his failure as a fighter pilot!

Wait until the debates and you will see Obama BURN McShame to the ground, just as will Biden to Putin!!!!!!!!!

I rest my case - OBAMA ALL THE WAY IN NOVEMBER - NOW MORE THAN EVER!

[pahlease]

"There's nothing wrong with changing your stance when you see you're wrong....that's growth and maturity in admitting that you're wrong, such as McCain with Immigration."

Tell this to the swift-boaters of John Kerry. You can't have it both ways. Either flip-floping is a good thing or it's a bad thing.

[N Philips]

There was a Senate bill which would have sent the money for the Bridge to Nowhere to New Orleans instead. Obama and Biden voted against this bill. This is in the Senate records.

[Mtobias]

American's don't like to be lied to.
Palin took the earmark money for the brigdge and then, when the bridge became infamous kept the moolah for other things, being suddenly against the bridge.

[chris]

she still kept the money for the bridge though, how is that "thanks but no thanks"?

[al]

So Sarah Palin claims to cut government spending, but she billed the Alaska taxpayers for 312 days of living at her own house and cooking her own meals. She billed for her children's travel as well. She is just a fraud. She took the money for the bridge to Nowhere and instead built a road to the bridge that would not be built. Go figure. The Republicans will excuse any behavior for their own candidates and condemn it in the Dems. They have no class. They just lie.

[Community Activisim Puts American's First!]

Sorry truamerican, she only didn't accept the earmarks because she & the bridge itself were exposed before she could do so, but she did publicly support it & even used state money to hire a Washington lobbyist to get more pork-barrel projects like it prior to being exposed. That is the FACTS, something you, your party & it's Presidential candidates are just flat out lying about!! Oh and ya she did sell the jet, for $600,000 less than market value to one of her major gubernatorial campaign's donator's. Just another shaddy Republican abusing the power of their office.

[CHRIS]

REPUBILCANS HAVE NO CREDIBILTY AFTER THESE LAST 8 YEARS!!!!! THEY(REPUBLICANS HAD ALL THE POWER TO DO AS THEY PLEASED AND THEY HAVE FAILED THE COUNTRY. IT IS SHAMEFUL TO THINK THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE WILLING TO VOTE THEIR FUTURES AWAY WITH THESE(REPUBLICAN) FAILED POLITICIANS.

[Don]

This shouldn't be a partisan issue.

It doesn' t matter whether Obama or Biden supported the Bridge. The question isn't the bridge itself.

Palin keeps saying she opposed it, and even that she stopped it. And anyone who looks at the record says she didn't oppose it and certainly didn't stop it. She supported the bridge (and the federal funds) in her governor's campaign. She scrapped the project only after the Congress did.

But she keeps saying, over and over again, something she knows isn't true. This isn't a close call. This is on the level of Clinton's Bosnia lie. This is diversionary, but it is problematic when someone insists on repeating the same lie, again and again.

[Coco Native]

Ummm Excuse me true american ( which means what?) She DID take the money!! Do you home work, she just didn't build the bridge with it. For the sake of us all people, tell the truth

[Crust]

Boris86:
"They'll do and say anything just to get elected."

You're talking about Palin and McCain, right?

This whole piece is about a falsehood Palin keeps repeating no matter how many times it gets debunked. She keeps telling us she told Congress no when in fact it was Congress that said no to an earmark for the Bridge to Nowhere. She only backtracked and decided not to build it after it became an issue and that earmark didn't come through. She even still built the access road to where the bridge would be (for some strange reason Congress left that earmark in). For more details: http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh090408.shtml

She keeps repeating this falsehood over and over again. Apparently, it's her central qualification.

The two are telling plenty of other fables, e.g. the jet which McCain keeps telling us was sold on Ebay at a profit (both false) :
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh090908.shtm

These are trivia. Their misrepresentations of Obama's tax plan are substantively far more important, but for some reason it's the trivia that really resonate.

I suspect dissembling is a deliberate tactic for the McCain campaign. It worked for them in the primary when McCain hammered Romney over a bogus version of Romney's position on timetables for Iraq. We'll see if it works in the general. In large part, that depends on whether or not the press corps calls them on it.

[Dmitriy]

Palin wasn't the only one who stopped the bridge. The project was facing nationwide opposition and the state, which could have built the bridge anyway, had already spent much of the money on higher priorities. Palin didn't kill it, she just performed the last rites.OK, but she still did finish this off. So she is not lying. So off to the next smear.

[Karpy]

The Good Governor rather frightens our Lord Obama me thinks. Why, he and his minions are in quite tizzy over this intelligent, articulate, good looking young woman with the beautiful family and experience that reveals him for the unqualified, lying, sissy-boy poser he is. His side is having a hard time playing victim with this one, and I would love to see them debate. I bet she could make him pee his pants.

[George Johnson]

Yes !!. She took the money afterwards, frfom the bridge to nowhere.Part of that money went to a road to the same bridge to you know where. She fired her chef, but is still working for the state in an even less significant roll. The plane was being used to transport prisoner from remote locations. Shall I go on. It is obvious that she was not chosen for the ppl, but rather for a campaign. She also believes that Earth as we know it was created 6000 yrs ago. She is a wack job..give it time and she will be giving tours to the bridge that almost was....

[MR. MIKE]

Shut up, Obama! She did not take the earmark for the bridge project! That is it. Her claim is true. She did sell the jet, she did not use the jet! That is it! Her claim is true! Obama, stop distorting other's record while you do not have one of your own!

Posted by: TruAmerican | September 09, 2008 at 01:43 PM

Wrong. She SUPPORTED the bridge until it became unpopular, so forget that Caribou Barbie is all righteous. She DID NOT sell the plane on ebay and nor did she sell it for a profit but rather a $300,000 loss. The Republicans lie with alarming frequency and sadly, it works for them.

[Jack13]

Is this similar to the Big Ditch that is in Boston, Massachusetts. The longtime senator from that great state is, please correct me should I err, Ted Kennedy.
Why has this Big Ditch not been properly investigated.
Is it because the great Ted Kenndy would not like such an investigation. Might this bridge be similar to the incredible sums of money that the great Richard Byrd, longtime senator, and again, correct me should I err, onetime member of the KKK, has gotten for West Virginia in the many years he was a senator.

And Ed Koch, once mayor of New York, feels scared by Palin. Koch almost destroyed NYC with his stupid policies of blaming everyone but the criminals who were committing murders and other heinous crimes. I recall reading in the NY Times, the mouthpiece for liberal Democrats, that New Yorkers were prisoners in their own homes. Who was Mayor? Let me think. Koch.
During this time, Koch as mayor, persons on public assistance actually received more money for having more children.

If she is to be judged for using money improperly, so be it. Byrd and Kennedy, both great and powerful with many years of political experience, should also be judged in a same fashion. If she is to be judged as inexperienced, then Obama should be judged in a similar fashion.

[David]

1. She supported the bridge project until it was singled out by the press as a spectacular waste of government resources.

2. She kept the money allocated for it and used it for other purposes.

These are facts. They are reported by multiple news reports and are sustained by the public record and video of Palin herself. I see that there are a lot of Republican partisans (I hate to use the word "troll," as that would make you guardians of a bridge) who keep saying, "No! It's not true! and Biden! Shut your filthy mouth!" But these vituperations do nothing to counter the facts outlined above.

[Barbie]

Girl Power!

[Rob Nel]

McCain senior advisor Steve Schmidt claims that Governor Palin has "a record of accomplishment that exceeds, by far, the governing accomplishments of Senator Obama [and McCain?]." Seriously? Senator Obama: B.A in Political Science from Columbia University, with a specialization in International Relations; J.D. in Law from Harvard, graduated magna com laude; President of the Harvard Law Review; 12 years (92-04) teaching Constitutional Law; 7 years Illinois State Senator (13th Congressional District, population 781,037): sponsored more than 800 bills; and 4 years U.S. Senator for Illinois (a State with 12.8 million people [18 times the population of Alaska and twice the population of McCain's own State of Arizona]). Governor Palin: Bachelor's in Journalism from University of Idaho; 4 years Wasilla City Council (8,000 people); 6 years Wasilla Mayor (8,000 people); 1 year "Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission"; and 20 months Governor of a State with 660,000 people and none of the issues common to the microcosm that is the United States; and Zero policy foreign policy knowledge and experience. Do they really think we're THAT stupid?

[Ordinary Joe]

Democrats fail to fully appreciate Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin has struck blow for under-qualified people everywhere. Thanks to Sarah Palin, I now aspire to be president some day. I have lived abroad nearly 2 years, have visited 6 continents and speak Spanish badly. I have opinions about foreign policy matters. I think I have her aced in the foreign policy arena. I can use a computer and find things on the Internet. I have opinions on technology policy. I think I've John McCain aced in this area. I pay off my credit cards every month and have had a balanced household budget since the early 80's, which means I've aced every Republican since Reagan on economics. I opposed the war in Iraq before Barack Obama. I know you can't win an occupation. I know you can't claim victory if you've never defined your goals. Yep, I'm even ready to be commander in chief--at least moreso than these two Republican bozos. That said, I'm ceding the election to Obama/Biden. I've already got a job I like.

[El Karpo]

When is the media going to stop wasting time on this innocent woman and investigate Obama's meaningful relationships with:
1. A known, murderous terrorist who laments that he did not kill more when he had the chance?
2. A known, racist, adulterous, "reverend" preaching hate of America and most of her population?
3. A known, convicted, Crime Boss and Slum Lord that donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Obama and hooked him up with property he owns after evicting some of his slum tenants?
4. Obama's (and his wife's) college thesis's praising Marxist communism and now using Stalinst techniques to try and silence his enemies?
Do tell us LA Times, when can we expect some fair investigative reporting on real issues?